Help with license decision for "cluster" of similar projects

[Alex Rousskov]

On Wed, 3 Mar 2004, Ernest Prabhakar wrote:

>> How does a copyleft provision either help or hurt these objectives?
>
> The way I like to think of it (personal opinion only!) is that:
> - copyleft ensures the *code* always stays free (maximizing the
>   original author and end-users freedom)
> - BSD/AFL license ensure the *developer* using the code has as much
>   freedom as possible

This is the best short answer I have seen! I think it can be further
improved/polished using the following observations. Copyleft (a.k.a.
viral) licenses leave original author at most as much freedom as
BSD-like licenses. Copyleft licenses restrict end-users freedom no
less than BSD-like licenses. "Developer using" is a "user". Thus, the
short answer becomes:

  - Copyleft licenses maximize the freedom of the code
  - BSD-like licenses maximize the freedom of the user

Everything else seems to be side-effects of the above fundamental
difference.

It is difficult to say a priori whether an educational project
benefits more from the former or the latter. Your ultimate goal is to
maximize the number of users while giving them a decent product.
Either license can achieve that, in some cases. If you think you need
commercial involvement, _and_ you do not mind "occasional jerks", as
Ernest put it, (even if they become very rich and start to rule the
world) than BSD-like licenses would be preferable, IMHO.

Alex.
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